LEGION BASEBALL: Lums, Northern Lakes capture Washington titles
Courtesy photo The Northern Lakes Mountaineers 16U legion baseball team won the Washington state A tournament championship, beating the Pasco River Dogs 7-6 at Al K. Jackson Field in Spokane. Laying down are Jace Cooksey and Kenny Wells. In the front row, from left, are: Caleb Mason, Ty Gallimore, Darren Gosch, Cooper Lenz, Jacob Varner and Zach Blansfield. In the back are: coach Mike Menti, Jesse O'Conner, Tim Sheppard, Grant Allaway, Wyat Phillips, Colin Killian and head coach Blaine Johnson.
• AA
SPOKANE — After suffering a setback in the first championship game, Bryce Hall struck out three for the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen Red in a 3-2 win over the Lyden Lightning to capture the Washington state AA championship on Friday at Al K Jackson Field.
“Bryce was on fire from the start,” Coeur d’Alene coach Bruce Coppess said. “We just played solid defense. He put the ball in play and told him to hit his spots and let your defense work, and it worked out really good.”
Coeur d’Alene finishes 30-12-2. In Washington, only the winner of the AAA title (highest classification) advances to regionals.
“It means a lot to play for something,” Coppess said. “These kids bought into what we were trying to do and continued to fight hard and grew as a team. Nobody plays more than the other kid. Everyone gets a turn and it’s awesome to see from a team to have that happen.”
In the first championship game on Friday, Lynden jumped out to a 8-0 lead after the first inning on the way to a 15-3 win to force a second championship game.
COEUR d’ALENE RED 3, LYNDEN 2
Coeur d’Alene 021 000 0 — 3 9 0
Lynden 002 000 0 — 2 6 0
Bryce Hall and Jesse Brown; Parcher, Simonson (3) and VanDiest. W — Hall. L — Parcher.
HITS: Cd’A — Coppess, Smart, Brown, Newby, Christ 2, Davey, Brillhart, Cohen. LYN — Heeringa, VanderVeen, Duke 2, Kleindel, Parcher. 2B — Davey, Parcher.
LYNDEN 15, COEUR d’ALENE RED 3
Coeur d’Alene 001 11 — 3 6 1
Lynden 821 4x — 15 11 0
Game called in 5th inning due to 10-run rule.
Jesse Brown, Joseph Cohen (3), Travis Usdrowski (4) and Calvin Coppess; Simonson, VanderVeen (5) and unknown. W — Simonson. L — Brown.
HITS: Cd’A — Coppess, Smart, Brown, Brillhart, Cohen 2. LYN — Heeringa 3, VanderVeen 2, Duke 2, Zweegman , Simonson, Kleindel 2. 2B — Cohen, Coppess, Heeringa 2, Kleindel.
Coeur d’Alene 001 11 — 3 6 1
Lynden 821 4x — 15 11 0
Game called in 5th inning due to 10-run rule.
Jesse Brown, Joseph Cohen (3), Travis Usdrowski (4) and Calvin Coppess; Simonson, VanderVeen (5) and unknown. W — Simonson. L — Brown.
HITS: Cd’A — Coppess, Smart, Brown, Brillhart, Cohen 2. LYN — Heeringa 3, VanderVeen 2, Duke 2, Zweegman , Simonson, Kleindel 2. 2B — Cohen, Coppess, Heeringa 2, Kleindel.
• A
Northern Lakes 7
Pasco 6
SPOKANE — Northern Lakes built a 7-2 lead after three innings in the Washington state A tournament championship game.
Then, things got really interesting.
And again in the top of the seventh inning.
Pasco, with a three-run sixth inning, loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh trailing 7-6, but were unable to push the tying run across, falling to the Mountaineers 16U program at Gonzaga Prep High.
Hitting in the seventh, Pasco had a 3-0 count and the runner from third took off on a called strike and was tagged out by Northern Lakes pitcher Caleb Mason along the baseline for the first inning. After a strikeout, Mason got the third out on an attempted steal of home.
“In the morning, we seemed pretty confident, but just didn’t know who we were playing,” Northern Lakes coach Blaine Johnson said. “We were pretty loose and the guys were wearing cowboy boots in the batting cage, and there was a lot of joking. We knew we had a right to be there, and the guys just never gave up and took it one inning at a time. The kids just never lost faith in each other.”
“It was just a wild, wild ending,” said Bryce Johnson, who coaches the program’s AA team and assisted the coaches Blaine Johnson and Mike Menti. “I’m really happy for Blaine and Mike.”
Timothy Sheppard had two RBIs for Northern Lakes, which finishes 20-20-1. Only the AAA (highest classification) champion advances to regionals.
Pasco 101 003 1 — 6 9 2
Northern Lakes 052 000 x — 7 6 4
Suemori, Palomino (2), Chavez (6) and Sanchez, Mackay (6); Kenny Wells, Caleb Mason (7) and Jace Cooksey. W — Wells. L — Suemori. S — Mason.
HITS: PAS — Blair 2, Suemori, Sanchez, Palomino, Duran, Lundberg, Chavez, Romero. NL — Wells, Allaway, Cooksey 2, O’Connor, Sheppard. 2B — Suemori, Chavez, Sheppard.